


Times are Changing

by Mooshkamoogle



Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Bonding, Family Secrets, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 12:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22432408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooshkamoogle/pseuds/Mooshkamoogle
Summary: Alister Azimuth had successfully used to the Great Clock to turn back time and save the Lombaxes, before Tachyon's attack. Ratchet grew up happily with his family, until one day he started to remember another life. Now, he has to do what he can to put the pieces of the old life back together again so he can finally feel complete.
Relationships: Kaden/Ratchet's Mother (Ratchet & Clank), Talwyn Apogee/Ratchet
Comments: 16
Kudos: 30





	1. Fallen Behind

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, gamer ghouls! 
> 
> Let's get this out of the way. So, I made this AU originally in like 6th or 7th grade, and I ran a crappy RP blog based on it. I've grown and matured since then, and I've fixed up the AU a whole shit tone.
> 
> I'm really happy with how this is turning out so far, so please, enjoy!

Kaden listened carefully to the shouting voices that echoed over his home. His son followed behind Alister, his closest friend, seemingly trying to plead for something from him. But Alister remained stone faced and cold.

“My decision is final!” Alister walked down the front hallway, Kaden’s son was hot on his heels, “Drop it, now!”

“Why won’t you listen to me?!” Kaden’s son pleaded.

This wasn’t the first argument the pair had, they had several before this one. Each argument got more brutal and heated than the last. Each one, his son grew angrier and angrier. It was so odd to Kaden. The pair used to be so close, ever since his son was just a kit. It was always, “Uncle Al” or “Azi”, and he always talked about how he wanted to be just like his uncle. Then one day he just changed, almost overnight.

It happened a few years ago, he was still in high school. Going strong. He had just started his 2nd year, and he was looking forward to his future. One night he started having nightmares, they were so vivid they almost felt like memories. His grades began to drop like stones, and he began to insist that they weren’t just nightmares. By the end of the year, he dropped out. Something no one had expected

He became reserved, closing himself away. He focussed his time on building and mechanics, he was already skilled with that. If he wasn’t shut in building something, he was exercising, and not just normal exercising, but training. Like he was preparing for a fight. He even started building weapons.

Yet he refused to tell anyone why.

That’s when the first fight happened.

Kaden had been woken up from a midday nap by shouting voices coming up the stairs. He pushed his ear the door and listened for a second, only to hear his son and best friend yelling at each other about something he couldn’t comprehend.

His son seemed to be accusing Alister of something, while Alister insisted he did whatever it was for the good of everyone else.

“You took everything from me!”

“The needs of the many outway the needs of the few!”

“They didn’t need your help!”

By that time, Kaden had fully stepped out of his room and was standing in his doorway. The argument came to a halt when they noticed him there. He stared down in his child’s eyes, it was as if years of fighting, love, and loss had come crashing down on him. His eyes weren’t that of the peppy excited teenager he used to be, but a tired man who simply wanted peace.

His son went into his own room and slammed the door shut, locking himself away again. Alister had refused to explain anything, and went on his way. Neither of them would tell Kaden or his wife, Emileen, what they were fighting about. They just kept on fighting.

And now they were fighting again. 

“You’re being unreasonable!” His son followed Alister, who was walking out of the house, “Just listen to me and I can help!”

Alister stopped and turned to face the boy, he glared down at him.

“I said drop it.” He hissed, but the boy remained vigilant, so Alister grabbed him by the shoulders and leaned down until he was face level, “Drop it. You have no say in what I, or my court, does. You have no say in what any of us do.”

Kaden stepped into the doorway, he watched them with worried eyes.

“You’re just a highschool dropout who couldn’t even make it into training.” Alister continued, his voice dropping, “Maybe if you were more like your father, I’d be willing to trust you.” the boy tensed up, and Alister spoke to him in a voice only he could hear, “Maybe if you were more like the hero you were back then, someone would listen to you, Ratchet.”

Ratchet was completely frozen, his grip on his omni-wrentch, something that had become a comfort to him in recent years, tighten. He began to shake. Alister straightened up and began to step away from them. Ratchet’s face twitched dropping into a fierce glare.

“That man is dead,” He began to hiss, “and you’re the one that killed him!” He brought his arm back to swing the omni-wrentch at Alister’s head, but Kaden quickly jumped in and caught his wrist, he wrapped his other arm around his son’s waist and pulled him backwards.

Kaden looked down at Ratchet, he saw a glare unlike any he’d ever seen on his child’s face, a glare that was so unnatural, yet fit so well, it showed the truest anger in his eyes. Kaden couldn’t help but be afraid, and when he looked at Alister, he could tell his friend felt the same way.

“You took everything from me,” Ratchet’s voice a deep growl, “I’ll make you pay for that. I’ll make sure everyone knows what you did to me, what you took from me.”

“I haven’t taken anything from you!” Alister protested.

“Shut the fuck up.” Ratchet shook his father off of him, “You’ll pay for what you’ve done.” he looked back at his father, who stepped away in fear of Ratchet’s anger being turned onto him instead, Ratchet seemed surprised by that and his harsh look turned into one of guilt. The young lombax pushed past his father and hurried inside. 

A silence permeated the air, as the door shut behind him. Slowly, Kaden turned to look at his friend. Someone who had also recently become more like a stranger to him. Alister looked regretful, he shook his head and sighed as he brushed fur out of his face.

“Al,” Kaden started, he stepped down towards his friend, “what the hell is going on between you two?”

“I wish I had an answer.”

“Clearly, you do have an answer!” Kaden seemed exasperated, “What was he talking about? What was taken from him? What did you do? What did he do? Why do you hate each other now?” It was clear worry was rising in Kaden, he seemed almost frantic.

“Kaden, deep breaths.” Alister placed a calming hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“I….” He shook his head, “I just want to help you both. You’re both my family, Al.” He hugged himself and looked at the ground, “I feel like I don’t even know you two anymore…”

Alister bit his lip and thought of a response, he could see the hurt in his friend, his brother, he could almost feel it radiating off of him. So he resigned to tell him the truth.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow, at work.” He let go of Kaden’s shoulder and stepped back.

“Why not now? Right here?”

“Kaden,” Alister made a small, almost invisible movement, singling Kaden to glance around and see the many onlookers from their neighbors homes, “let’s not cause more of a spectacle then we already have.”

“Come inside then?” Kaden motioned back at the door.

“I don’t think a certain someone wants me inside right now.” Alister looked up and Kaden followed his gaze. They saw Ratchet staring down at them from his window, glaring daggers into Alister. When he noticed they were both looking, he quickly slunk away, pulling his blinds shut.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kay.” Alister turned back and walked to his ship, Kaden stood there until Alister wasn’t visible anymore. Then he walked back into the house.

He sat at his work desk, staring down at his papers until Emileen returned home. He had planned on working and distracting his thoughts, but that wasn’t working. He kept telling himself to start working, but he just kept staring at his papers. When she came inside he hurried to her arms, where he explained everything from that day.

Ratchet, on the other hand, didn’t leave his room since the argument. He figured he’d already be grounded, so he saved them the trouble. He thumped his pencil against his paper, where he’d drawn out another memory. Quietly wishing that those nightmares had really just been nightmares, that he never had this secret life that was taken away from him. That he had never been a hero. That he never had all those friends back then. He wished he’d never met Alister. He wished he saved Clank on his own. He wished Alister had left along with all of the other lombaxes. He wished-

The tip of his pencil broke, he had been pushing it into his desk without realizing it. 

Ratchet sighed and tossed the pencil. He thumped onto his bed instead. There wasn’t any point in wishing for things that already happened. Slowly he closed his eyes, thinking about his old life, the life he missed so dearly. His old friends, the Galactic Rangers, Sasha, Cronk, Zephyr, Talwyn, Clank- CLANK!

He sat up quickly, his eyes now wide open. If he and Alister remembered everything, then Clank would remember too! He quickly grabbed his computer, and checked the year of the Solana Galaxy. It was still a few years before Clank would crash on Veldin, about 1 or 2. He needed to be there, he needed to go to Veldin more than anything.

He tossed some things into a bag, clothes, snacks, drinks, his omni-wrentch, then he slipped on some hoverboots. He had been notoriously bad at using them, but since he had started regaining his old memories, he’d also begun to regain his old skills. He slipped out of his room, and snuck over to where the keys for ships were hanging. He was also known for being bad at flying ships ( which was still sort of true), but there was one ship that he was good at flying. Aphelion. And he knew exactly where she was parked.

He reached up to grab her keys, then paused. His mom’s keys were hanging up. He hadn’t even heard her come on. His ears perked up, as he began to hear their voices.

“They won’t tell me what’s going on, Em.” Kaden paced around the kitchen, “Glym used to tell me everything, y’know? Now I don’t even know what TV shows he likes.”

Ratchet’s ears drooped.

“I know, hun.” His mother sighed, he could hear the sound of her tapping fingers, something he knew she did when she was nervous, “But these things happen sometimes. People grow apart.”

“But not so suddenly!” Kaden sat down at the table and rested his head on his hands, “I just wish I knew what to say to him, I want to make it all better, I want to be there for him.”

“I do too,” She reached across the table and took his hands, “we’re doing all we can right now. We have him in therapy, he has medications, we help whenever he asks. We just hope he’s willing to open up, we can’t force it out of him.”

Ratchet’s tail had dropped to the ground. He slipped Aphelion’s keys off the ring and walked towards the kitchen. He couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to them. The second he was in the doorway, they looked up.

“Evening, kitten.” His mom stood up and walked over to him, “What’s with the bags?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Where are you going?” Kaden was resting his chin on the backrest of his chair, “Are you gonna stay at Angie’s for a bit?”

Angela, or Angie, had been one of the more interesting things Ratchet learned in this life. Someone who he had once thought of as just another lombax back then, he now learned was basically his cousin. Although he had always thought of her as a sister. Alister had told him once that Emileen and Angela’s mom, Lorna, had been friends and even roommates at one point, Ratchet had no idea they were that close though.

“No,” this hurt him to say, and he really didn’t want to see their reactions what he was about to say next, “I’m leaving this planet. I’m going to Veldin.”

Kaden was sitting up now, “Glym, that’s all the way in Solana!” He looked at Emileen then back at him, “Why the hell are you going there?”

“Job opportunity.” Ratchet shrugged, “I think it’s time I struck out on my own.”

“Hun, there’s job opportunities here on Fastoon.” he mom gently took his shoulders, “Why go all the way there?”

“People on Fastoon will recognize me. They’ll know my name.” Ratchet tightened his grip on his bags, “It’s not like you two are small town nobodies. I want to start anew, with a planet that doesn’t know my family.”

“But Glym-”

“That’s not my name.”

“What?”

“I said that’s not my name.” Ratchet looked at them, his eyes were soft and sad, “My name is Ratchet.”

They looked at eachother, then back at him. Seeing the hurt in his eyes, they smiled and nodded, even if they didn’t really understand why.

“Ratchet then.” His mom pulled him close and kissed his head, “Good luck, Ratchet, stay safe. Call everyday, or text at least.”

Kaden wasn’t exactly comfortable with him leaving, but he wouldn’t protest if it meant that Ratchet would be happy, so he added, “And don’t forget to take your meds! And drink water!”

Ratchet nodded, finally smiling again.

That very night, he climbed into his ship and took off for Veldin, only saying goodbye to those who were there to see him go, which wasn’t very many people. Kaden and Emileen took a seat on their couch, neither said it out loud, but they both were silently hoping that Ratchet would change his mind and turn around. He didn’t.

It wouldn’t be much of a story if he did.

When the sun came up that very next day, the house was still completely silent. The couple quietly got ready for work, quietly ate breakfast, and quietly left the house. Stepping into the building, their grim faces were hard to ignore.

Aslister was the first to approach them, he always was of course. The trio were close friends. Kaden and Alister knew each other since they were kids, and Emileen went to the same highschool as them. If it wasn’t for Alister being a lot more confident and outspoken than Kaden, he and Emileen would have never started talking, let alone start dating. The trio told each other everything, and always counted on each other. They truly were the best of friends.

“How’s Glym?” Alister asked, he was the source of worry on a lot of people’s minds.

“He’s gone.” Kaden looked into Alister’s eyes with a dark and grim look, Alister gasped and covered his mouth, assuming the worst. Emileen gently whapped Kaden on the head for being so dramatic.

“He moved out last night.” She added on, Alister sighed with relief, “Said that he had a job opportunity on Veldin.”

“But that’s all the way in Solana?!” Alister wasn’t surprised really, but he’d prefer they think he was. He knew Ratchet started out on Solana, it made sense that he would go back there.

“We know.” She shook her head and rubbed her face, “But it was his choice, and that’s what matters. He’ll come by and visit, and he’ll keep up contact. There’s no need to worry.”

“You’re worrying aren’t you?”

“An insane amount, yes.”

Kaden, who had been oddly silent since he first spoke, hadn’t changed his grim look as he stared Alister down, “Al, you still owe me that explanation.”

“And you’ll get one.” He motioned for them to follow, “Come with me.”

Alister wasn’t planning on telling them the whole truth, they wouldn’t believe it. But with some carefully thought out lies, he was sure they’d accept his explanation. Hopefully. Probably.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two years had passed, two long years for Ratchet. His estimation had been a bit off, Clank had yet to crash and they hadn’t reunited. Of course, and ratchet didn’t want to think about this, but it was also possible that due to the change of timelines, Clank would never be created and Chairman Drek would never attempt his planet destroying scheme.

He was really trying to not think about that. As the year went on, however, the thought just kept forcing its way inside his head. 

He’d been working at Grim’s garage, after a sort of clumsy landing lead to Ratchet seeking out Grim’s help in fixing his ship. By clumsy landing I of course mean, he crashed in front of the garage and Grim had to pull him from the wreckage. He then fixed up Ratchet’s ship, free of charge, which made Ratchet feel bad. So he started working for Grim to pay it off.

“You got a place to stay, kid?” he asked.

“No, sir.”

“Do you live on Veldin?” he continued.

“No, sir.”

“Do you have anywhere to go?” He sounded worried.

“No, sir.”

Grim allowed Ratchet to stay, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for the kid, and he couldn’t exactly explain it but he felt like he just knew the kid from somewhere. Ratchet had never mentioned any family, always did his best to avoid the topic, he never called anyone off planet and never even went out of his way to make friends.

He was just a little genius lombax inventor, who could fix (or modify) any ship he got his hands on. Customers had very mixed feelings about him. The younger crowd loved his random modifications, and he never charged extra for them which was a plus, but the older crowd hated how much of a loose cannon he was, often demanding he be fired.

Ratchet sat in his new room, technically his old room, and pondered how different this was from before. When he’d grown up on Veldin before all the adults mostly acted like he was some poor pitiful baby who constantly needs sympathy, and the other kids his age never wanted to hang out with him, due to them believing he was fragile (thanks to their parents).

His thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a ship entering the garage, before Grim could even finish calling out to him, he was hurrying to the bottom floor and to his new project. Ratchet didn’t even take time to look at the new customer. As he investigated the ship, he did listen in though.

“He’s a very intelligent young man, he’ll be able to fix up your ship in no time.” Grim had a reassuring tone.

“How fast? I’m worried I could be late…” A female voice responded.

“Well, let’s find out.” Grim turned and shouted to Ratchet, “How long do you think this’ll take kid?”

He sprung up from around the ship, walking confidently over to the pair, “This? This is nothing. I could finish it by tonight!” He puffed his chest out and opened his eyes, finding himself face to face with his very pissed off look cousin.  
“Oh…” He stepped back, “Uh, hey… Angela…. It’s certainly been awhile.. eheh ....”  
He stepped back even more, before she could bring her fist down on his head.

“You asshole!” She yelled, stomping closer to him, Ratchet almost seemed to shrink down, “Where have you been? Don’t you know you’re worrying your family sick!”

Grim meant to intervene, now he was just confused. Ratchet didn’t have any family as far as he knew. But these two clearly knew each other somehow. Perhaps siblings? He wondered to himself.

“I’m sorry!” Ratchet almost pleaded with her as he stepped back again.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it! For all we knew, you were dead!” Her voice hitched, she was getting very worked up over all of this, her eyes welling with tears as she stepped forward, “How could you?”

Ratchet stepped away again, being very sure to step over a toolbox on the ground, “Look, Angela, I didn’t drop contact because I hate all of you… I just needed to start a new life, and get away from everything. Like the General.”

She paused for only a moment, her hands balled into fist and her glare bore holes into Ratchet’s soul. He started to look panicked and he searched for any quick escape routes, he soon found himself out of luck. Angela began to march forward, ready to strike him. Grim finally stepped forward, to pull them apart. There turned out to be no need for that.

Angela hadn’t noticed the toolbox and wasn’t sure to step over it, instead she ended up falling flat on her face. Ratchet stared down at her, her face snapped up to look at him. He covered his mouth, trying to hide a growing smile. She had started to growl, but just stopped, feeling defeated.

She picked herself up, dusting off her clothes, when she and Ratchet made eye contact he looked apologetic. He really didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but that didn’t change the fact that they did get hurt, and he couldn’t fix that with just a simple, “I’m sorry.” 

She took her by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug, a very tight one that he wouldn’t be able to easily wiggle his way out of.

“I’m just glad you’re alive, stupid.” She gave another big squeeze.

“I’m glad to see you too, Angie…” He squeezed her right back and he was considerably stronger due to his strict exercise routine.

“Lordy!” She gasped from the squeeze, as if he had squeezed the air right out of her. Angela pulled back and ruffled his head, “Now fix my ship so I can get out of here.”  
Ratchet nodded, gathering his tools and jumping to work quickly. He was determined to get this done as quickly as possible so he didn’t have to think about going back home anymore. He really wasn’t going back, not unless he had too, and he did have too.

He stopped paying attention to the other two, and although he could hear them talking, he had no idea what they were saying anymore. It was just work, work, work, until the ship was all done. The repairs were minor, it looked like she had just overworked the engine and got a bit dinged up from space rocks, nothing too big. He was able to finish just before the sun would even rise.

Setting down his tools with a satisfied smile, Ratchet walked out of the garage, ready to admire the night sky and fall asleep under the stars. Just as he started to get comfortable, a blinding fiery streak came crashing down onto the planet's surface. Ratchet was more awake then he’d ever been in his entire life.

“It’s time…” He whispered to himself, jumping up and racing away towards the wreckage. It was time for his life to properly begin.


	2. Long Time No See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are reunited, and the galactic threat starts to make itself known. Ratchet knows exactly what he has to do. But out of all the familiar faces he expected to see, he didn't expect to see that one.

The flaming ship was nestled down in a crumbling crater, as it burned the flames grew higher and licked the air. Ratchet did the best he could to peer through the orange flames and black smoke, trying to see inside. He covered his mouth and nose, then slid down into the crater and stumbled his way to the ship, his eyes watering from the heat.

He used his omni-wrentch to knock aside broken metal so he could access the ship. As the cockpit became more clear, he saw the small metallic body resting inside, deactivated in the crash, he sat limply in the chair. Ratchet reached in and carefully lifted him into his arms, then turned to scurry out of the crater before the ship exploded. He made it, just barely.

He sat on the edge now, catching his breath and wiping sweat from his forehead. His tail thumped on the ground nervously. He still held the little robot in his arms still, nervous to let him go. As the flames dyed down and the stars became clear again, his eyes opened.

Clank found himself staring up at the face of a tired lombax, he would have moved out of his arms, but it didn’t seem like everything was still working. He remembered escaping the factory and the ship going in for a crashing landing, he did not remember being rescued.

“Excuse me?” he asked, his voice glitching minorly.

The lombax looked down in surprise and quickly set Clank on his feet. Clank steadied himself and looked at the lombax, who was sitting on his knees and smiling brightly at him. Clank scanned him over, and if he could smile, he would.

“Do you remember your name?” The lombax asked.

“Indeed, I am known as Warbot Defect B54296,” He said with confidence, the lombax’s face fell slightly, but Clank continued, “I am also known as XJ-0461,” Now he was sounding a bit smug, and when the lombax got a questioning look on his face, he spoke again, “you however might know me simply as, Clank.”

Ratchet heart felt like it could burst, he scooped Clank into a giant huge and swung him around, all while laughing excitdely.

“You asshole!” He cried, “I thought I’d lost you!”

Clank chuckled and hugged him right back, “I am sorry for scaring you, Ratchet!”

“Don’t ever scare me like that again!” His kind smile betrayed his supposed annoyance at the situation, he set Clank back down on his feet and pat his head, “I really am happy to see you.”

“As am I, however,” He attempted to take a few steps, falling over almost instantly, clearly damaged from the crash, “I do not seem to be in full working order.”

“Oh, uh, right!” He scooped Clank up again and began to head back to the Plateau, his best friend held carefully in his arms. He hoped over rocks and climbed his way back, trying to remember how this went before, “Hey, you weren’t followed right?”

Clank seemed to be thinking carefully, he knew he was last time, but right now? He wasn’t so sure of it. He shifted so he could see behind Ratchet easily, keeping an eye out for any invaders. Lights streaked across the sky, but none came any closer to the planet. It was oddly quiet on the surface.

They had been able to make it all the way to the garage again, and Ratchet was even able to repair Clank. The boys got to talking properly, Ratchet told Clank all about his family and growing up with the lombaxes, he talked about attending school there and all his neighbors, how nice it was to be surrounded by people like him.

“And what about the General?” Clank asked, after being silent for some time.

“He remembers everything too.” Ratchet leaned back in his chair, “I think everyone who was in the Clock at the time remembers our past life.”

“So, Sigmund and all the Zoni?”

“Probably remember us.” He shrugged, “Or at least, eventually they might. I only started remembering things a few years ago.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a sketchbook, passing it to Clank, “One of many. Either wrote out or drew everything I remembered.”

Clank began flipping through, the sketches in this book seemed to be closer to the day the Clock was reset, there were sketches of Ratchet and Talwyn fighting off space pirates and searching for treasure, sketches of Ratchet on hoverboots, and of the fongoids that helped them. Even some sketches of him and Alister first meeting. There were a lot of sketches of Clank and Talwyn though.

Ratchet watched Clank silently flip through the book, and noticed when he stopped on a page of just small memories of Clank and Talwyn. It seemed like they were just snapshots into their lives. Clank looked up at Ratchet, who smiled soberly as he shrugged.

“You’ve missed us…” 

“Well, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his head, “You were my brother and Tal… well…” His face was a bit flush.

“You loved her.” Clank nodded and he looked back down at the sketchbook, “Do you think she might….?”

“I dunno…” Ratchet leaned onto his elbows, “I don’t really wanna think about it…. Just cut my losses and forget about her.”

Clank examined the page, “You seem to be having trouble with that.”

“Whatever.” He was staring at the floor, “It’s not like I’ll ever see her again. No point in hoping.”

“You might still find her, you can’t lose hope!”

“Look, pal,” He sighed roughly, “she’s probably traveling the universe with her dad. Cronk and Zephyr too. So, I’m moving on. Okay?” He rubbed his eyes with one hand, “Let’s drop this subject, alrightie?”

“A-Alrightie…” Clank closed the sketchbook, passing it back to Ratchet, “Apologies.”

“It’s fine, little buddy.” Ratchet leaned onto his desk to grab the remote, then switched on his TV, “Let’s just watch some mindless TV. How does that-”

He was cut off by an emergency broadcast, the announcer appeared to be on a spaceship, behind there seemed to be some sort of battle raging on. Her face twisted up with worry and fear as she spoke.

“The battle continues on, the rangers are trying their hardest to hold out but-!” Her sentence was cut off as the ship rattled and she stumbled forward, “I don’t know who’s winning anymore! But backup might be nice!”

Ratchet was already standing up, he and Clank locked eyes and nodded. WIthout even saying a word they raced for Aphelion, the ship powering on to greet them. As she lifted up and took off, Grim stepped out to see what all the commotion was, just barely missing them, a trail of dust following behind their ship. He watched with worry, his ears catching the distant words of Ratchet’s TV.

Aphelion raced into the stars. The battle quickly came into full view, and there was still no clear winner. It was obvious that the Galactic Rangers were struggling against their enemies, Ratchet was quick to identify who was who and jump into defense. It wasn’t long before one of them hailed Aphelion.

“Incoming call…”

“Answer it.”

“This is Elaris, or the Galactic Rangers, who are you?”

“My name is Ratchet, and this is Clank.” His eyes were focussed ahead as he shot down any enemy that came into view, “Pleasure to meet you, Elaris.” He smiled, but still didn’t look down.

“Right, whatever. What are you doing here?”

“We are here to help you.” Clank answered for Ratchet, “Do not be worried,we have plenty of combat experience!”

Elaris seemed hesitant, another female voice called out from somewhere behind her, and it wasn’t Cora’s, “We need all the help we can get! Drek’s forces could outnumber us at any moment!” As the voice grew closer, her image appeared onscreen. She looked into the video feed in front of her.

When Clank gasped a bit, Ratchet glanced down, their eyes locked. 

'Tal!'

He wanted so badly to call out her name with joy, to fly his ship over to her and greet her properly. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. She didn’t know him. Not anymore.

He hadn’t realized how his face changed to show his grief, their eyes were still locked onto each other's. Talwyn just couldn’t look away, something in the back of her mind just told her that she should be thrilled to see him again but she didn’t even know him.

“Ratchet!” Clank shouted.

Aphelion rattled, her screen glitched and turned black. A blue light filled the ship, as a bright beam hit them dead-on. Ratchet and Clank both screamed, Aphelion was sent spinning, her controls no longer responding. 

When she finally stopped Ratchet tried to get her moving again, but she didn’t respond to anything he did, “Was that an EMP?” He quickly looked at Clank, he was functioning fine, it couldn’t have been an EMP.

“Beginning ejection sequence...” Aphelion suddenly spoke up, her voice glitching and sounding unusual.

“What?” Ratchet almost screamed, “No! No! Cancel!”

Aphelion didn’t respond.

“Aphelion!” He shouted, “Cancel sequence!” It was too late.

“Ratchet…?” Clank said fearfully.

“Hang on, Pal!” Ratchet grabbed Clank and the cockpit flew open, sending the pair spiraling out into space, Ratchet’s helmet activating barely in time. Ratchet himself was knocked out, Clank held onto him tightly, praying for a rescue.

“NO!” Tal shouted, she began searching around herself frantically, she didn’t know why seeing them in danger freaked her out so much, but she knew she had to help them, no matter what.

“What are you doing?” Elaris watched her nervously, “You better not be planning too-” her question was answered as a suit formed over Tal and she attached a thruster pack, “Tal, don’t!”

“I have to help them!” Tal said as she grabbed a blaster and ran for an airlock, Elaris tried to give chase, to stop her.

“You’re still in training! You can’t!” She was nearly fast enough, Tal launched herself out in Ratchet and Clank’s direction, “No!” Elaris ran back to the control to warn the other Rangers about what had just happened.

Tal blasted through space, twisting and swirling to dodge any blast that came her way, shooting any ship that dared get close to her. When she got close enough, she extended her arms out and wrapped the boys into a hug of protection.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” She turned herself around, preparing to speed back to the starship. As she speed along through the battle, two ranger ships came up on either side of her, guiding her safely back, Tal glanced up to see who her defenders were, Brax and Cora. Oh, man… She was definitely going to get yelled at for this, later.

All across the galaxy people had tuned in to watch the battle fearfully, the camera zooming in to see what had happened to Ratchet and Clank. They had been doing so well before the beam hit, and once they were out of the ship, it began acting on its own, fighting against the Rangers.

On Fastoon, the Kurbotts watched the TV with tears in their eyes, the parents held each other tightly. Alister was nearby, his eyes were laser focussed on the TV, his mouth covered.

Ratchet’s been through worse. He’s fine.

He kept telling himself that, and he knew it was true. He just couldn’t help but worry about the kid.

Tal rolled into the airlock, slipping off of Ratchet and Clank, landing on her back. She took a few deep breaths. Then sprung back up to make sure that the boys were okay. She lifted Ratchet into her arms and removed his helmet.

Clank stumbled and stood, quickly resting a hand on Ratchet, terrified for his brother’s wellbeing. As is responding to the touch, Ratchet shifted and groaned. His eyes slowly blinked open, Tal was the first thing he saw.

In that moment, he forgot who he was, where he was, and when he was. He smiled softly at her, and closed his eyes again, before he spoke. Remembering the last time he saw her. He was standing next to his ship, she was making him promise something before leaving.

“Told ya I’d come back.” He felt happy that he was able to keep his promise.

Tal’s heart felt warmed, she wasn’t sure why, but hearing him say that, she felt so relieved.

“Don’t scare me like that, fuzzball.” She paused, why did she say that? Why did it feel like she knew him so well? She looked back down at him, then at Clank, there was something special about these two, she just knew it.

The airlock doors flew open, Elaris raced in, she slid to a halt when she saw them there. She sighed in relief, “Is everyone okay?”

“Ratchet needs medical attention!” Clank spoke up, before anyone else could.

Tal nodded in agreement, she lifted Ratchet in a bridal carry, “I’ll take him to the medbay!” She carried him out the door, Clank was hot on her heels, not wanting to leave Ratchet’s side.

Elaris watched them leave, before returning to the control, there was something odd about those two. She just couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Ratchet awoke again, to the sounds of chatter all around him. The Galactic Rangers were all in the room, Clank sat on Ratchet’s bed, Tal was sitting in a chair next to it. Ratchet cleared his throat, making it obvious that he was awake.

They looked over to him, then glanced at each other. They silently decided to end their discussion and approached the bed, being led by Captain Qwark.

“Welcome back to life.”

“I wasn’t dead.” he paused and looked at Clank, “Was I?” Clank shook his head.

“You’ll be pleased to know I rescued your ship, it put quite the fight, but it’s being repaired now!” He proudly patted his chest, Ratchet just knew Qwark had no hand in this, and he rolled his eyes in response.

“Right…” Paying the Captain no mind, he turned instead to Elaris, “How are the damages? Is it bad?”

“She’ll be in working order in no time, don’t worry!” She was surprised to be the Ranger getting attention, but she liked it, “And you’ll be alright too, so there’s no need to worry about that either!”

“Whew, good to hear!” Ratchet rubbed the back of his head, he looked over to Cora, “Wait… WHat are you guys doing here, shouldn’t you be out there,” He pointed to space, “fighting against Drek’s forces?!”

“The battle is long over, don’t worry.” She held out her hand, as if motioning for him to keep calm, “Actually, not too long after Apogee rescued you, a bunch of Lombax ships came to help. The Lombax Praetorian Guard, to be specific.”  
Ratchet instantly tensed up, in a way that only someone who was close to him could tell, Clank scooted closer to his friend, resting a hand on him, a silent signal that told Ratchet that he was safe. Ratchet placed his hand on Clank’s in response.

“Who… Who was leading them…?” He asked nervously, his voice starting to give away his true feelings of fear.

Talwyn seemed to get excited about the question, and she jumped to respond before anyone else could get a word in, “General Alister Azimuth, of course!” she pumped a fist up, “I still can’t believe I actually got to meet him! He’s why I joined the Rangers actually,” she said turning to Ratchet, “I wanted to be a hero, just like him!”

Her excitement quickly faded when she actually saw his face. His cold, grim, glare. Clank was watching him with nervous eyes, but his gaze didn’t soften.

“I don’t wanna burst your bubble, Talwyn, but that guy is no hero.” he hissed, the Rangers eyed each other, unsure of what to think, “He’s a cruel asshole, who doesn’t care about anyone’s life but his own.”

Tal leaned away from his, she felt awkward and upset, “How do you know that?” she at least wanted proof of this before she considered believing it.

“I’ve known him my whole life,” Ratchet folded his arms, “he’s my uncle, and the reason I left Polaris.”

The air of the room had become grim, matching the tone of Ratchet’s voice. His fingers tapped the bed as he watched everyone, waiting to see what would happen. It was like they were all silently battling to see who would speak first, but no one wanted to step up. Tal, instead of talking, just got up and walked out of the room.

Ratchet’s face dropped as he watched her leave, he hadn’t meant to upset her, he just wanted her to know the truth! He began picking at his arm, now silently begging something to fill the void of silence, anything at all.

The door opened, and Ratchet’s head popped up instantly. Then it instantly dropped again when he saw who was on the other side.

“Ratchet.” Alister walked into the room, he looked furious, “Just what do you think you’re doing? Charging out into the middle of battle, no plans, no training?!” His lecture began, Ratchet hated the fact that Alister thought he could lecture him about these sorts of things. But the sight of arguing family was awkward enough to get the rangers to leave the room. When they were gone, Alister sat in the chair near Ratchet.

“You can’t just start acting like this is your old life again, Ratchet!” His tone was low and fierce, “You aren’t some great hero anymore, you’re just a mechanic!”

“And you’re still a failure and traitor to the lombaxes.” Ratchet said without really thinking, he glanced up and saw the sight of pure fear in Clank’s eyes, but he just couldn’t see why, Alister was angry sure, but he’d never hurt either of them.

“I saved the lombaxes!” Alister reminded Ratchet, he soon followed his gaze down to the little robot, who looked like he wanted to run at just the sight of Alister. The old lombax softened his gaze a bit, “I see you’ve found each other again.”

“Yeah,” Ratchet wanted to give a snotty response, but now he was just worried about his friend, “is everything alright, pal?” he pulled his smaller friend closer,holding him on his lap. Clank looked at Ratchet then at Alister. Trying to decipher if he should actually say his fears or not.

‘Ratchet doesn’t remember…’ He thought to himself. His long silence only worried the lombaxes more.

“Clank? Are you okay?” Alister asked this time, when it seemed that Clank was too lost in thought to answer, he turned his attention back to Ratchet, “Was he damaged by anything when Aphelion launched you both?”

“No…. I don’t think so…” Ratchet shrugged, “I wouldn’t know anyways, I was knocked out pretty quickly.”

Alister nodded and looked at the bot again. A small thought caught his mind, this had been the nicest conversation he and Ratchet have had in a very long time, and they were barely even talking. Ratchet had seemed so upset to see him standing in the doorway. His eyes trailed back to the frightened robot, just what about him scared Clank so much.

A memory slammed into the front of his mind, seering, burning, a horrible memory. He inhaled sharply, suddenly realizing where the fear may come from, tapping his thumbs together, he spoke up again.

“How does your stomach feel, Ratchet?” he asked, and judging by Clank’s reaction, he knew that he had guessed correctly.

“Huh? My stomach?” Ratchet looked down at his stomach, patted it once, and looked up, “It feels fine, I didn’t get hit there or anything, if that’s what you’re asking…”

“Just… Just being sure, I don’t want you getting hurt.” He gave Ratchet a small pat and the younger lombax only rolled his eyes. Alister looked down to Clank, they both locked eyes with each other, sharing the same sentiment.

“He doesn’t remember. Don’t tell him.”

Ratchet already hated Alister enough as is. With time, however, he may begin to calm down again. He really didn’t need the added weight of his own death hanging on his shoulders, and neither Clank, nor Alister, wanted to tell him how he died, or even why he died.

“Oh, I wanted to ask,” Alister looked to Ratchet again, “That young markazian women, are you and her close?”

Ratchet became flush, “I uh, no, we aren’t. I mean we used to be, but not anymore, not after… Well, you know…”

He nodded, “She seemed very worried about you, does she know?”

“No,” this time, Clank spoke up, “only those who were at the Clock seem to remember what happened.”

“That’s good. The less it spreads, the better.” Alister leaned back in his chair, tapping his chin.

“Why? So less people can actually know what you did?” Ratchet hissed, quickly turning the conversation sour.

Before another argument could start, the room door opened, three lombaxes came hurrying in. A sight that once would have made Ratchet almost cry tears of joy, now just made him sigh and want to sink away into his bed. He hadn’t noticed that Tal had actually followed them back in, not really wanting to leave him.

Emileen hurried over to his side, Alister stood up and moved to make room for his parents. Angela stood at the foot of his bed, texting her own mother with updates to the situation. Kaden wrapped his son in a huge hug, covering his face with kisses.

“What were you thinking, Glym?” Angela sighed, Ratchet rolled his eyes, having already heard this from Alister, “I mean, come on! You just pulled an all-nighter, you probably passed out for so long because you were tired, idiot.”

All the older lombaxes looked at Angela, then looked at Ratchet, their faces twisted to show the concerned anger. It looked like they all wanted to lecture him at once about safety, and making good choices, and not running head first into battle without a plan.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh, wow, those guys are in trouble, I should help.’ Since you’re so curious.” Ratchet folded his arms, pulling out of the hug.

“That’s how a hero thinks.” Tal spoke up, drawing the attention off of Ratchet, “That’s what the Captain always says. Think about helping others, before you help yourself!” She smiled at Ratchet, he smiled right back at her, “That’s why he asked me to give these to you, before he left.”

She passed a stack of papers over to Ratchet, he began flipping through them, recognizing them pretty quickly. Kaden read over his shoulder, occasionally glancing at his son, trying to see if he was actually considering this.

“What are they?” Emileen asked, chewing a bit on her nail.

“They’re recruitment papers, for the Galactic Rangers, the Captain wants him to join us.” She folded her arms, a proud glimmer in her eyes.

“I’ll do it,” Ratchet said, shooting Alister a fiery glare to keep him silent, he then took up and pen and began signing the papers. Over his head, his family members were shooting each other worried looking, no one was stopping him, but they all wanted to. 

“ I don't know about that buddy…”

“I do.” He finished another signature, “I’m also a grown man, you can’t tell me what to do anymore.” He held the papers out to Tal, she took them with a smile. Ratchet smiled back, all the thoughts rushing to his mind. This time, he’ll stop Qwark. This time, he’ll save Umbris. This time, he won’t let anyone down.

But that wasn’t the way the world wanted to work with him. The universe had other plans for the lombax, and they weren’t looking too good. The days went on, Ratchet and Clank entered training, they would be working side by side with Talwyn again. Which made Ratchet very happy. But he couldn’t let his guard down, especially around Qwark.

He and Clank seemed to have the same idea, get close, and figure out what they can about any secret plans, stop him before it’s too late. The pair was so focussed on their plans, they hadn’t even realized how suspicious they themselves were acting, which the ever-observant Talwyn, was quick to notice.

Ratchet couldn’t help but eat up the media-attention. He was being called a hero again, or at least, a hero in training. Not to mention, he and Clank were cute and easily marketable. He was quick to accept any interview, sometimes he was even asked before Qwark was. How could he have known that they would be so able to use that to mold Qwark into what they wanted. Not that it was hard to take advantage of Qwark.

He was setting himself up to fail, yet again, and he didn't even know it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was watching the R&C movie again tonight, and when they were reading off Ratchet's citations Cora says, "Willful disruption of the space-time continuum." and I just started giggling so hard.
> 
> Add in the lombaxes and Ratchet and Clank knowing each other, then the movie just becomes another way the timeline went. Obviously not how this one is going, but pretty close.
> 
> But now I wanna hear what he actually did...


	3. Too Little, Too Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ratchet and Clank are determined to prove that Captain Qwark is a traitor before anyone is put in jeopardy, no matter what it takes. Unfortunately, they were a little too careless with their actions. But, as stated by the great Dr.Nefarious himself, "The best way to destroy a team, is from within."

He was an odd one. That Ratchet. Always places he shouldn’t be, always listening. One time they found that little robot in the air vents, he had been recording something. They knew they could always trust that pair out on missions, they were skilled fighters and excelling in their training. They made a great team. But those hushed conversations and shifty looks couldn’t help but turn a few heads. Not to mention how that lombax jumped into the spotlight so easily, “a media darling”, they called him. The Rangers never mentioned their suspicions out loud, the galaxy was already in crisis, the people shouldn’t need to worry about unrest in the team. Besides, they all thought they were the only one who felt that way, all the other Rangers seemed to love them.

Ratchet leaned against a wall, next to a door closed tightly. Inside Captain Qwark was on a private phone call. Just above Ratchet’s head was the entrance to the air vents, he couldn’t fit inside, but Clank sure could. Talwyn hid just around the corner, trying to catch them in the act.

She did think Ratchet was nice. Almost too nice. It was suspicious how quickly she trusted him for basically no reason, and how the Captain happily agreed to sign the boys into the Rangers, in fact it had been his idea. Qwark was usually opposed to new Rangers, not wanting more people who could take his spotlight, but he wanted Ratchet in the Rangers. She just couldn’t figure out why.

“All they did was get blown out of their ship… That’s not exactly hero material.” She muttered to herself, from her hiding place

Could it be his family? She had learned Ratchet was a Kurbott, a very well respected lombax family from Fastoon. She only learned that when she met his parents in the hospital. He hadn’t told her on his own and it was customary that if a lombax only gives their first name, then you don’t ask about their family. Only giving a first name usually meant that they had left their family, and the reason why was none of your business. He hadn’t given his last name on his own, and didn’t even put it on his papers. So, that probably wasn’t it…

She jumped when she heard the sound of the vent opening, she carefully peeked around the corner, spotting Ratchet catching Clank in his arms, as the vent grate seemed to move back into place. Ratchet glanced down the hallway, and she ducked out of sight. Nothing happened. She could hear the door slid open.

“Oh, Ratchet!” Qwark gasped in surprise, “I didn’t expect to see you here!”

“Sorry, me and Clank were just wondering if you want to get lunch with us. We were gonna head to that restaurant you showed me earlier.” He lied with ease, a different Ranger might have been suspicious of him, but since this is Qwark we’re talking about, he fell for it easily.

The trio began to head down the hallway, chatting nicely as they went. As they turned a corner, Ratchet and Tal made eye contact, he gave her a smile that seemed to be saying, “Shh.”

“Oh, Ms.Apogee,” Clank greeted her politely, “I did not see you there. You’re very sneaky, you would make a very good spy.” he chuckled a bit, Ratchet rolled his eyes in response.

“Yeah.” She starred the pair down, “I bet I would.”

“You wanna join us for lunch?” Ratchet asked, holding out a hand for her to take, but she didn’t take it.

“Sorry, I have other plans, fuzzball.” She turned on her heels a strode away.

Ratchet shrugged, and the trio headed off their own way. Ratchet planned on a sort of interrogation at this little lunch, he thought he might be able to worm his way into Qwark’s head and get him to spill his secrets, with Clank’s help, then he was sure he’d be successful.

Talwyn had a different meeting in mind, she was going to confront the other Rangers about her suspicion. She didn’t have much evidence, but she couldn’t wait any longer, the galaxy could be in danger and the rangers could be destroyed from the inside out! She marched into the cafeteria and straight over to the senior Rangers.

“Something wrong, Apogee?” Cora asked, as she sipped her drink, “You’ve got a serious look on your face.”

“It’s about Ratchet and Clank.” Tal took a seat, folding her arms neatly on the table, “I think there’s something going on…”

The Rangers glanced at each other, their faces turning more serious to match Talwyn’s. They were all wondering, now, if the others had noticed the strange behavior.

“I keep seeing them spying on the Captain and listening in on conversations…” She began, “And I don’t know about you guys, but ever since I first saw him, I’ve just had this off feeling about him, like there’s something he’s not telling us.”

Elaris tapped her fingers on the table, biting her lip, as she nodded in agreement, “I feel it too. He’s definitely got some secret to hide.”

“Normally, I’d tell you guys not to trust gut feelings alone, but this time, I completely understand what you’re talking about.” Cora rested her head on her chin, she glanced at Brax, who nodded in agreement as well.

“So…” Tal rubbed her hands with her thumb, “We’re all in agreement?” they all nodded, “Okay… So what now? They’re both out to lunch with the Captain right now.”

“I guess we confront them.” Elaris set up, with determination, “When they come back, we’ll snatch them up and get them to confess exactly what’s going on!”

The lunch with the boys was going well. If it were a normal lunch and their only goal was to hangout and eat. But for a secret interrogation, it was failing miserably. Ratchet, for the past hour, had been resisting the urge to slam his head into his table and hopefully knock himself out. Clank was a much better actor, and had been pretending to listen very carefully, in reality, he hadn’t actually listened to anything Qwark had said since he first opened his mouth.

“...And that’s the story of how I became the Captain of The Galactic Rangers, adored by millions and billions across the whole universe!” Qwark boasted, ending his three-hour-long lie train.

“Greeaatt…”Ratchet faked a smile, none of that had anything to do with what he even asked, “But could you please answer my question?”

“Oh, ‘fraid not, cadet!” Qwark flipped up his phone to check the time, “I have business I need to be attending too… Uh, super confidential Ranger Captain business.” He stammered as he quickly stood up, heading for the door. The pair followed him outside.

Qwark turned and headed for the ships, Ratchet called out to stop him.

“The hall of heroes is this way, Captain.” he pointed his thumb behind himself, in the direction of the hall.

“Yes, of course, I know that…” Qwark was walking backwards, “and I will meet you there later, of course!” He faked a big smile, then turned and ran to his ship.

Ratchet squinted, “Clank. Head back to the hall and cover for me.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to follow him.” He hissed, his fists were clenched and he ran after Qwark, not willing to see him win again.

Clank nervously turned away and walked back to the Hall of Heroes, his fingers tapping together as he walked. He could lie very well, that wasn’t why he was so nervous. He just didn’t like to be seperated from Ratchet, especially when Ratchet was heading for the villain’s base. He pushed open the door to the hall and was instantly greeted by Talwyn, who didn’t look very happy to see him.

“Hello, Ms.Apogee…”

“Hello, Clank. Let’s have a chat.”

The unfortunate thing about being Clank’s height was that if anyone wanted too, they could easily pick him up and carry him whenever they wanted, with little opposition from him, and Talwyn was a great deal taller than him. So when she grabbed his arm and lifted him by his wrist, there wasn’t much he could do to stop her. 

Clank was carried to a dark room and sat at a table where Cora and Brax were waiting, their weapons were fully visible.

“Where’s Elaris?” Talwyn asked as she cuffed Clank into his seat.

“She was getting some important transmission and she had to take it.” Cora shrugged, not taking her eyes off the robot, like he was the most dangerous person in the galaxy.

“More importantly, where’s the Captain and Ratchet?” brax leaned closer to Clank, who shrunk down in fear.

“They wanted to do some extra training, and I thought I’d come back in case Elaris needed anymore help!” Clank had made himself as small as he could, although he couldn’t pull his arms in.

“Likely story.” Cora huffed, “Just what are you and Ratchet hiding from the rest of us, huh? What do you know?”

“I don’t understand what you’re-”

Before he continued, Elaris slammed the door open, surprising everyone in the room, “An evacuation order has just been given for Novalis. Chairman Drek is headed there next.” She said in between gasped for air.

“Oh no…” Clank couldn’t make himself any smaller, but he wished he could, “He may be too late…”

“What are you talking about?” Talwyn got down on Clank’s level.

“Ratchet. He may be too late to stop the attack on Novalis.” Clank worried out loud, “That is what we knew, we wanted to prevent the attack. But we were afraid we would not be trusted.” Clank was stammering out his story, “We had no proof and only a hunch.”

The Rangers exchanged worried looks, unsure if Clank was telling the truth or not.

“It doesn’t matter now, we have to go!” Elaris motioned for everyone to follow her, “We need to stop them before it’s too late!”

The Rangers went rushing out of the room, Talwyn stopped and looked back at Clank. She scanned the ground for a second, before running back and taking him from the chair. She held him close as they ran for the starship, unsure if they would even make it in time.

Qwark watched the planet from his window on the base, he tapped his chin with his finger. Something inside him said this was a bad idea, but the thoughts of fame and fortune quickly outweighed any braincells that might still be in there.

He had just spent an evening listening to Drek’s ramblings and plans, none of it was really all that interesting to him. What was interesting to him was the fact that the man making his weapons was Dr.Nefarious. At least Qwark thought it was, he hadn’t seen him clearly and wasn’t yet fully sure of it. However, he promised himself that if the scientist did turn out to be Nefarious, then he would cut the deal and return to the Rangers. That seemed like that would be the smart thing to do.

The deplanetizer was being aimed and put into position, the starship had been sabotaged. The Rangers were on the losing side, but Ratchet still had faith that he could win this time. He was being so careful, so safe. He was right there, right at the controls. He had to win, he couldn’t fail everyone a second time. 

He was so close.

The controls were right there.

But now they were getting further away.

He was getting pulled away from them.

“No, no!” His mind was racing, “Not again, not again!” He reached out for the controls as best he could, but that didn’t help, “Please, I can’t fail them again!”

He was filled with a burning rage, as he turned his head. But to Ratchet’s surprise, it was Drek who carried him out of the control room, but a sleazy green figure, who wore a cruel smile like a badge of honor. Without a word, the man carried Ratchet through the halls, he seemed so pleased with himself. 

He stopped at a door, it slid open. Revealing the occupants of the room to be none other then. Chairman Drek and Captain Qwark. The captain seemed more surprised to see Ratchet there than he did to see Ratchet’s capture. 

“Dr.Nefarious! I knew you were here!” Qwark gasped, seemingly trying to act like finding the Doctor was his reason for being here, “What are you doing with one of my Rangers?”

“I found this rat sneaking through the ship,” Nefarious strut around the room, pulling poor Ratchet along with him, “He was trying to ruin our plans, and it seemed he followed you, Qwark.”

Qwark’s eyes snapped around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with any nearby person. Drek just smiled evilly.

“Well, well, well. The Galactic Rangers aren’t so pathetic after all.” He laughed at the lombax, “You’re a Kurbott, aren’t you?” his tone was mocking and patronizing, “I’ve seen your father before. A very impressive man.” The chairman motioned for them all to follow him, as he headed for the escape pods, “Truly the pride and joy of his race. You however?”

Ratchet was handcuffed, his weapons all pulled away from him, and he was tossed into a ship. Before he could move, he was strapped into the seat.

“You’re a disappointment to every lombax.” The chairman was holding Ratchet’s omni-wrench, he tossed it into the ship, it hit Ratchet on the head, but didn’t knock him out, it just hurt. “You couldn’t even save one planet.” 

The ship closed, as Ratchet struggled. He worked his arms free far too late. The escape pod was sent flying away, coordinates set to a distant planet. Ratchet began to pound his fists on the glass, screaming for help.

A beam of red light escaped the ship, striking the planet’s core. In seconds, cracks formed on the surface of Novalis, and then… it was gone. Blasted into pieces in an instant.

No one could hear Ratchet screaming, his screams turning into sobs of anger and failure. His fists pounded uselessly on the glass. He failed. He failed again. Now this time his hwole family would see it.

The whole universe seemed to stop, their eyes glued to their screens as the explosion was reported. Recording of it was quickly released, showing the destruction with little thought and care. The Galactic Rangers did what they could to quell the storm, but the people of Solana were restless.

When it was revealed that both Ratchet and Qwark had been on the ship, and that Ratchet had been seen in an escape pod, fleeing the disaster. People quickly began to assume the worst of him. Qwark was labeled as a captured hero, who did all he could, and Ratchet? He was a traitor. He was responsible for the destruction.

Talwyn watched the reports coming in, as his name was slandered. Her heart began to hurt. Although it had been her own suspicion, she hated to see it being reported as true. Clank was heart broken, he tried to convince everyone that Ratchet wasn’t at fault for any of this, and while the Rangers believed him. No one else did.

When Ratchet crashed on Veldin, he heard the news. Grim and raced to his side, asking if the reports were true. Ratchet read the articles, speechless. Grim asked him again, but he knew the answer fully well when the little lombax began to cry and collapsed onto his shoulder.

The night after he crashed, he packed his things, loaded Aphelion, and left. Headed for home. For Fastoon. Weighed down by his thoughts of failure, he was ready to give up. But Polaris was no better than Solana. Although, few lombaxes spoke up for his character, everyone else seemed to agree. He was a traitor.

Aphelion silently came in for a landing, as her top opened, Ratchet peered out. Checking to see if he was safe. Slowly, his family came up to the ship, his mother held her arms up, offering him a hand out. He took it and stumbled to the ground. 

Alister placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to be reassuring. Ratchet starred mournful daggers into his soul.

“You were right…” He said, “I’m not a hero. Not anymore.” His voice cracked, and shrugged Alister’s hand off of him, moving instead to his mother. Who gently led him inside.

Alister went to follow, with Kaden. But a hand was placed on his chest, stopping him from going any further. Kaden had stopped him. He was glaring at Alister too. He just shook his head, then turned for the door. Leaving Alister to ponder alone.

“He’s gone to his room.” Emileen starred up the stairs after her son, Kaden walked to her side, “He didn’t say a word. Other than what he said to, Al.”

Kaden sighed, he took her hand in his own, “Give him time, love.” He tapped her hand with his thumb. Wishing he knew exactly what to say to make everything feel okay again, to make his son feel alright, to make the universe see that he wasn’t a bad person.

The Galactic Rangers wanted to go searching for Ratchet, so he could redeem himself. But when they couldn’t find him on Veldin, President Phyronix forbade them from searching any further, saying they needed to focus on the actual issue at hand. It didn’t help that Ratchet told no one where he was going, he just left suddenly.

They had to go battle Drek without him. Which, wasn’t impossible. But it wasn’t the plan either. It was something Clank just couldn’t agree with, he wanted to find his best friend, he was afraid of losing him again. He just couldn’t go alone, as he was too small to pilot his own ship and he didn’t actually know how to pilot one.

“I’ll help you look for him,” Talwyn promised Clank, “I shouldn’t have distrusted you two… I should have realized what was actually going on…”

“Do not blame yourself for this.” Clank said, he was standing on a table to be eye level with her, “I will not have anyone blaming themselves for anything they had no part in. This is Drek’s fault, no one else’s.” His voice was stern, “Blame and regret may lead you down a path you can’t return from.”

Talwyn nodded sadly, tapping her fingers on the table and biting her lip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ratchet watched the news carefully, watching Drek’s and the Ranger’s moves. He hadn’t left his parent’s home since he returned. Afraid of what people might say to him, afraid that the Ranger’s were looking for him. He sat on the couch, tail curled around his legs, Hugging himself as he watched their success.

Kaden strolled into the room, catching sight of the TV, then his son. He took up the remote quickly, shutting the TV off.

“Hey!” Ratchet sat up a bit, surprised by his father, “I was watching that!”

“You’re only watching it to make yourself more upset.” Kaden said as he took a seat next to Ratchet, “Trust me, looking back on your failures just to look at them, isn’t going to help. All it’ll do is make you blame yourself more.”

Ratchet rested his chin on his knees, looking away from his dad and to the wall instead, “Yeah, I know.”

“I know you do, but sometimes it helps repeating.” Kaden pat Ratchet’s head, “Don’t watch them succeed where you failed, rise up and find your own success. Take hold of the future you want. If the universe decides that you don’t deserve it, make it change its mind! Ya, get me?”

“I do.” Ratchet watched him carefully, wondering if Kaden knew what his wondering might imply. Although the thought of changing time had crossed his mind, Ratchet wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get away with it. Surely everyone at the Clock was aware of what happened, and they’d never let anyone get close enough to try again.

Sensing that Ratchet still wasn’t actually listening, Kaden pulled Ratchet into a side hug, Ratchet leaned against his father. He liked being held, it was a nice reminder that people cared.

“Listen, kitten. When I was growing up, nothing came easily for me. I was smart, sure, but I was unfocussed. I couldn’t get my brain to focus on what everyone wanted it to focus on, it did what it wanted.” he started to explain, “I thought everyone was like this, so I never told anyone.”

Ratchet sat up a bit, then elbowed his father jokingly in the ribs, “Hey! You’re who did that to me?”

Kaden laughed and gave him a small push, “Buddy, both your parents are like this, you were doomed before you were even conceived!” 

Ratchet laughed a bit too, “Okay, okay, but I don’t see how this is relevant?”

“Oh, right, my point…” he paused for a second to remember where he had been going with his story, he snapped his fingers when he remembered, then continued, “I had to fight a lot, figuratively and literally, against others, against myself, against what felt like the whole world. But my problem was, I was doing it alone. I never reached out to anyone. You can’t fight yourself alone, reach out to someone.”

Ratchet nodded carefully, allowing himself to uncurl even more as he listened, “You didn’t even reach out to Alister?”

Kaden shrugged, “I mean I sorta did, but there wasn’t much he could do but listen. He did his best though, and when he needed me, I was there too. Get yourself a good friend like that, someone who's fun to be around, and always there to help. Of course, you gotta be one yourself.” He sighed, and tapped his thumbs together. He felt a little bad about being rude to Alister earlier. But his kid’s comfort always comes before his friends. He’d shoot Alister a text about it later.

Ratchet looked thoughtful, he slowly smiled, “I already have one of those…”

“Yeah? Who is it?”

“Clank, the little robot that was with me at the hospital.” Ratchet explained, “He’s my closest friend, I trust him with my life…” He paused for a moment, “I just hope he isn’t angry with me… I did kinda run off without a word…”  
“I’m sure he’ll understand, kitten.” Kaden stood up to stretch, “But he’s your friend? I thought he was my new son.”

“Huh?”

“You called each other, ‘brothers’ in one of your interviews,” Kaden looked back at Ratchet with a proud smile, “seems like a good kid, definitely a welcome addition to the family.”

Ratchet was beaming at that, his first actually giddy smile since that Novalis Incident. He watched Kaden walk out of the room, with a bit of a bounce.

“Remember what I told you,” Kaden called out to him, “make the future yours!”

“I will, don’t worry!” He was going to make the future his. No matter what. Sure, his dad didn’t mean literally, and sure, he was going to lose what he had now. But as long as he had his best friend by his side, he’d be okay. He just needed to reach out to Clank first.

Kaden stepped down into his basement, which functioned as an, “At Home Research Center”. H shuffled through his papers with furrowed brows. There was something off about his data and he just couldn’t figure out what. He’d had Emileen and Alister both look it over, even they couldn’t figure out what the problem was.

“Could be your machines, love.” Emileen had stated, “It is a hard thing to pin down exactly”

“When you research something as undocumented as this, you’re bound to go through a few bumps and bruises.” Alister agreed with her, “What are you even trying to search for?”

As Kaden now sat alone, he pondered to himself. What was he looking for exactly? Using what he knew of the zoni and the data he had gotten from those old runes they had found. He was searching for some “Keeper of Time”. Something that held all of time together.

His ears twitched at the sound of someone walking upstairs. As they passed, his machine began to beep rapidly, spitting out more skewed results. He leaned closer, confused by what he saw.

It had done the same thing when Alister had first come near it, and the same thing ever since. Not when he or Emmy went near it though. He knew Alister wasn’t at the house right then. So that meant that Ratchet had passed overhead. But why did he cause that reaction?

Kaden knew it had something to do with Ratchet and Alister’s little feud, but as of right then, he just couldn’t figure out what. He began to think that with time, he would figure out the truth of what happened between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CEO of posting this to the wrong fic at first.
> 
> FUN FACT: After Ratchet got his memories of Clank back, and before they reunited. He would sometimes wear heavy backpacks to simulate the feeling and weight of carrying Clank on his back. It was never exactly right, but it helped him feel a bit better.
> 
> I didn't know how to add that into the story, so take it here.


	4. Broken Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clank and Talwyn go to find Ratchet, while Ratchet begins to prepare for a new trip. He isn't so sure about his plan but after a conversation with his dad, he becomes set on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took so long! After seeing that trailer, I knew I had to get back into this! I hope you guys like this chapter!

Clank had received a message from Ratchet. The message had just said, “I’m safe.” and had a set of coordinates. Clank was obviously unnerved by the message, he was quick to employ Talwyn’s help to get him there. She agreed to help him, wanting to apologize to Ratchet for thinking he was a traitor. Clank uploaded the coordinates onto her ship’s Nav Unit, it was directing them to a landing doc on Fastoon.

“Fastoon?” Talwyn hummed, “That’s the lombax homeworld. So, he just went home?” She mentally smacked herself in the face for not thinking of that sooner. It certainly made a lot of sense.

“I am not sure…” Clank tapped his chin, “I know his parents live on Fastoon, but we also have an enemy living there as well. He could be with either…”

“So we could be walking into a trap?”

“Precisely.”

“Then I know exactly what to do!” She grabbed her phone, wasting no time as she got to texting someone, “My family lives in Polaris, they’ll be able to provide us backup in case something happens!”

Clank looked happy, he of course knew who she was calling, and he liked the thought of seeing Cronk and Zephyr again, he was especially happy when he discovered that Tal’s father was still with them, someone Clank never had the pleasure of meeting. 

The pair launched off into space, heading to Polaris as fast as their ship could take them. They set up a meeting point between their ship and the Apogee ship near the border of the galaxy, so they could fly side-by-side to Fastoon.

They gilded up beside her father’s ship, with Max Apogee waiting for them. He was glaring into their ship, his arms folded across his chest, when he saw Clank, he raised an eyebrow, then rolled his eyes.

“I don’t like you getting involved with these guys, Talwyn.” he clearly had been paying attention to the news, “They’re dangerous, you could get hurt!”

“Then I guess I’m a little dangerous too, dad!” She smirked at him and laughed, with Clank joining in.  
“I suppose I am rather dangerous, aren’t I?” He stood up on his chair proudly, holding up his fists.

“Yeah, yer real threatening.” Cronk said very sarcastically, as he typed the coordinates into the Nav unit, “Are you kids ready to go?” Clank sat down and buckled himself in again, then nodded. “Good. Now, what’s the plan?”

Tal and Clank shared a look with each other.

“There is a plan, right?” Zephyr asked.

“Um…” Tal hummed, trying to come up with something as quick as she could.

“The plan is…” Clank looked at her, then to the other ship, then back to Tal, “... We go to Ratchet’s coordinates and see if he’s okay.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Max pinched the bridge of his nose, and gestured something that vaguely translated to “Let’s just get going.”

And the groups were off, they flew in silence for some time. Just listening to the beeps and boops of their ship radar as they flew carefully through Polaris. Tal pressed a few buttons, turning on auto-pilot before she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs.

“So… You and Ratchet knew about what was going to happen…” She was still having trouble believing it.

“Yes,” Clank said, unsure if he should go into any further detail. Knowing that the more he talked, the more unbelievable the story would become.

“But how?” She sighed and rubbed her face, “I mean, I knew Qwark was stupid, but this? And why’d you lie about it?”

“Because we knew you all would not trust us over the captain.” Clank watched the stars go by, “Think of it like… We’ve gone through something like this before.”

“What does that mean?” Tal turned to look at Clank, “Nothing like this has ever happened in Polaris before.”

Clank looked sadly to the ground, his fingers tapped on his chair, “It is hard to explain. We have both experienced much of this life, twice.”

“Twice?” She was even more confused, “What are you talking about?”

“We’re almost there.” Clank looked out the front window of the ship, “We should prepare ourselves for what might happen.”

Tal’s brow furrowed at Clank ignoring her question. She folded her arms and turned to face the front, wanting to know more about their situation, hoping it would reveal why she felt so close to Ratchet and Clank already.

Fastoon came into view of both ships, the silence finally breaking as everyone prepared themselves to head down. Tal’s ship came down to the landing dock, her father’s ship waited above, ready to swoop down at any moment.

Tal and Clank climbed out of the ship, they scanned the area around them. Various lombaxes went about their business, saying goodbye to each other, greeting friends, standing dramatically somewhere quiet so they could gaze off into the distance and monologue.

“Do you see him?” Tal asked.

“Not yet.” Clank couldn’t see much from where he stood, so he climbed up a nearby bench, hoping to get a better view of the area, “There are a lot of people here…”

The pair remained distracted, as a figure sooner approached them. He scanned them over carefully as if he was trying to recall something. Once he was satisfied that he was correct, he made his presence clear to them.

“I knew I was looking for one person, but two is a nice surprise.” He said with a kind smile.

Clank hoped down from the bench and walked over him, “You’re Ratchet’s father, correct?”

“That’s right!” He snapped his fingers in a very dad-like way, “He sent me to find you guys and bring you back with me, doesn’t really want to leave the house right now.”

“I wouldn’t either.” Tal shuddered, remembering the way the media was portraying him.

Kaden turned his attention to her, “You’re that young lady from the hospital right?” He held out his hand, “I don’t think we were properly introduced, my name is Kaden Kurbott.”

“Talwyn Apogee.” She shook his hand nicely, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Likewise.” Kaden knew the Apogee’s well, at least, he knew Max Apogee well. Max had assisted him before in his research, although they weren’t really close, Kaden trusted him well. 

With introductions out of the way, Kaden motioned for them to follow him as he began to lead them out of the station. Walking with someone so small, his parental instincts took over leading to Kaden picking Clank up and carrying him on his hip. Thankfully, being carried seemed to be Clank’s preferred way of travel.

“Ms.Apogee,” Kaden glanced back at the young Markazian, “Ratchet seems to like you a lot,” he started, Tal nodded quietly in agreement, “are you and him in a relationship?”

Tal was instantly flustered by the question, she covered her mouth to hide her smile as she sputtered out a response, “No, no! We only recently met! I don’t even think we were that good of friends before he left!” Clank chuckled knowingly at that, Kaden couldn’t help but smile.

“Right of course!” Kaden smirked back at her, “You should know, he’s going to be very happy to see you. He only expected Clank to come, said the others ‘Wouldn’t really care.’ which I thought was silly.”

“Of course I care.” Tal crossed her arms, she thought that she almost cared too much, “There’s something about him… I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s like…” she shrugged like she was only just now trying to put this into words, “...I guess he knows things he shouldn’t? If that makes sense.”

Clank looked back at her, then up at Kaden. His face has dropped, he wasn’t a goofy dad, he was now a serious researcher. Who had seemingly felt the same thing as Talwyn. Clank was thankful that it was difficult for him to look exceedingly nervous, thanks to being a robot.

Kaden turned around fully to face Tal, “I know what you mean. But I don’t think this is the best place to discuss this.” he glanced down at Clank, signaling that it was the robot he didn’t want to talk about it around. Tal nodded slowly at him, startled by the sudden seriousness.

Back at home, Ratchet was packing a bag. Planning to leave with Clank the second that his dad got back with him, he didn’t want to stay for very long, as in that bag he had packed a good chunk of his father’s research on the Great Clock. Hoping to delay Kaden figuring out what was going on.

He walked down the stairs calmly. Ratchet was content in his plan, or at least he was trying to convince himself that he was. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to let go of any of this, but he also wanted his old life back. He was torn between two worlds. 

His eyes caught a family picture that sat on a little table, next to it were pictures of him growing up. He slowly lifted the picture. This family was everything he had ever wanted back then, the planet was everything he had ever dreamed about. This whole life was just a dream come true for him, he wasn’t alone anymore, people knew what he was and where he came from. Lomaxes weren’t just a legend or a myth to people, they were alive and known and loved.

A tear dropped down onto the glass of the picture. Was it really right for him to do this? He squeezed his eyes shut to stop any more potential tears and shoved the picture into his bag. Forcefully stopping himself from thinking any more about this.

Just in time too, Ratchet turned around as he heard the front door opening. He smiled warmly at the sight of Clank, who Kaden was sitting on the ground.

“Ratchet!” The second his feet hit the ground, the small robot was rushing into his brother’s arms.

“Hey, Clank!” Ratchet wasted no time in picking Clank up and hugging him tightly. If there was one thing these two hated, it was being separated from each other.

Kaden stepped aside, allowing Tal to step into the house, shutting the door behind her.

“Um, hi again, Ratchet.” She waved sheepishly.

“Talwyn?” Kaden was right, Ratchet was surprised to see her. He walked over to greet her, Clank still held firmly in his arms.

As the pair got closer, an alarm went off from a device on Kaden’s belt. The other three immediately turned to look at him, as he unclipped the device, his face twisted to look almost angry. He glanced up at the boys.

“I’ll be right back.” He said and instantly left for the basement, which didn’t register in Ratchet’s mind as a bad thing.

Kaden rushed to the basement, his eyes widened in surprise. All of his machines were going crazy, their readings were nothing like Kaden had ever seen before. He began looking through them quickly, hoping to catch it before it stopped. His brows furrowed as he worked, something about this felt off, he thought back to what Talwyn had mentioned earlier.

“It’s like he knows something he shouldn’t…” Kaden hissed to himself.

Ratchet and Clank were standing overhead, both of them together seemed to be what was agitating the machines. Much like when Alister or Ratchet would come near them alone. All three of them were hiding something, and whatever that secret was, it wasn’t something natural.

“Maybe it’s not just that he knows something,” Kaden mused, “it’s that… he’s already seen it happen.”

The thought came clicking into place as he remembered Ratchet’s sketches, all those people and places he’d never seen before, until recently. Clank and Talwyn had both been drawn before as well, years before Ratchet had ever met the two.

Kaden reached for a folder, only to realize it had vanished from the spot. He snarled his hands clenched into fists. In a second he was marching up the stairs, right back to the happy little trio.

Upstairs, they were talking nicely. Ratchet was flustered, having Talwyn here was going to make it even harder to leave.

She pointed to his bag, “Are you leaving?”

He shifted nervously, “Yeah… I’m taking Clank to see his family.”

Clank snapped his head to look at Ratchet, knowing exactly what he meant by that, “Ratchet why are you-?”

“It’s only fair, I’ve been spending so much time with my parents, you deserve a chance to see yours.” he smiled sweetly, giving off the impression that this was his only reason for doing this.

“But we need your help in Solana!” Talwyn didn’t want to stop him, but they really did need his help, “Can you help us defeat Chairman Drek?”

Ratchet was hesitant in responding, and he ended up not even having a chance as the basement door slammed open, with Kaden storming out. He pointed a finger at Ratchet, his face harsh and angry.

“You.” He hissed, “Give me that bag. Right now.”

Tal and Clank looked at Ratchet worriedly, the younger lombax looked like a deer caught in headlights, his face seemingly horrified.

The tone Kaden used was one that was never used against Ratchet. Sure, Ratchet had been yelled at, every kid has. But not with this voice. This voice was reserved for strangers or people who had crossed a big line, someone who had done some heinous. It wasn’t used for family.

Without a second thought, he slipped the bag off his shoulders, setting Clank on the ground as well. He passed the bag to his father, who immediately recovered his files from it.

“Why do you have these?” He asked harshly.  
“I….” Ratchet tried to find a lie, but his own anxiety prevented him from finding the words, “I didn’t mean too…?”

“You didn’t mean to steal my research on a giant space clock?!” Kaden shouted, astonished by the lie, “Tell me the truth, now Ratchet!”

“I took it so you wouldn’t try to follow me!” Ratchet snapped back at him, finally rediscovering his courage, “I’m going to the Great Clock!”

“You-” Kaden dropped the bag in his anger and confusion, “You’ve known where it was this whole time haven’t you?! You’ve known everything about it!”

“Yes, I have. Congratulations for finally figuring that out.” Ratchet folded his arms, “If you’re going to yell at me, might as well yell at the General too. He knows everything too.”

Kaden stared daggers into Ratchet, his lips turned to a snarl yet again as he finally snapped, “That’s enough!” He huffed, “Just what the hell are you?!”

Ratchet took a deep breath. He could feel Clank grabbing onto his leg. Everything about Ratchet had dropped, his tail hit the ground, his ears drooped, his face was cast down at the ground. Kaden took a step back, guilt starting to overtake him, replacing any anger he had felt about this situation. This was still his son.

“I’m….” He looked at Clank, who was staring up to him with worry, “I’m a time traveler. Technically.” 

“What do you mean?” Kaden glanced at the paperwork that he still held so tightly, then back up to Ratchet.

“This is the second time I’ve gone through life… We turned back time, so we could save the lombaxes from Tachyon. In my old life, there were so few of us left in the universe, I’d only ever met two others, Angela and General Azimuth.” he slowly started explaining, “When General discovered the clock, he knew it could save everyone. So we did. Since it changed the timeline so much, I lived through life again. Then one day, I started to remember…”

For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to cast the blame on Alister. It had been Alister who turned the clock back, and who had killed Tachyon. He certainly blamed Alister for all of this, but as he stood here now, he couldn’t help but force himself to take some of it.

Tal walked closer to the two of them, Emileen had come rushing down just in time to hear the confession start. She had heard the yelling from upstairs and had grown concerned, even texting Alister to tell him there was a fight.

“In that old timeline…” Tal started to ask, “What were you?”

Ratchet tried to smile, “Clank and I were heroes. We saved the Solana and Polaris galaxies all the time, for a while there, he was some of the only family I really had, until-” He looked at Tal, then quickly back to the ground.

She seemed to have her own small realization, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. A flash a similar broken-looking lombax flashed before her eyes, all he was missing was Clank. She blinked and the memory vanished from her eyes.

“Kaden,” Emileen walked over to her husband and pulled his research out of his hands, “what’s going on?”

“Ratchet he’s-” He looked at his son, something suddenly clicked, “Why are you going back to the clock?”

“So Clank can see his family.” Ratchet looked him in the eyes.

“You’re lying aren’t you?” Kaden stepped forward, “Please, tell me the truth.”

Judging by the way Ratchet scanned the ground, Kaden knew he wasn’t getting the truth anytime soon. 

“I am.” Ratchet walked over and grabbed his bag, slinging it over one shoulder, “I’m leaving now.” he scooped up Clank and walked past Talwyn to the door, he paused by the door-side table, placing the family photo he had taken before back down. Deciding that he wouldn’t take it with him.

The family fell completely silent as he walked out the door, not even bothering to say goodbye. Talwyn looked at his parents, then back at him. Then she followed them out the door.

“Ratchet,” She walked up to the side of the ship, “let me go with you.”

He poked his head out from the cockpit, “You want to go? But what about the Rangers, they need you, Tal!”

“The Lombax Praetorian Guard came to their aid before, I know they’ll do it again before things get too rough.” She climbed into the cockpit with him, “You need me too.”

He stared at her for a moment, before smiling softly and starting the ship.

Kaden listened as the ship’s engines started, he turned his head to look out the window. He watched as the ship took off, leaving the planet in an instant. Only now did the weight of the whole thing properly fall on him, he looked at Emileen, the back to the window.

“How could I have….?” He slowly shook his head, “I yelled at him… I was awful…” He walked to the stairs, the closest place for him to sit, Emileen wasted no time in sitting next to him.

“Everything’s going to be alright, you’ll find a way to fix this. But first,” She took his shoulders gently, “Explain to me exactly what happened.”

As he got to explaining the situation, Alister was already hurrying over as fast he could. Talwyn had been correct, the guard was offering support for the Galactic Rangers. There wasn’t trouble in Polaris, so it was the least they could do from them. Alister had been helping with the preparations when he got Emileen’s texts.

“I think Glym and Kaden are fighting. It sounds bad. Kaden’s yelling, he sounds furious.”

Alister knew it was unlike Kaden to get that angry, especially when it came to Ratchet. As far as Alister could tell, Ratchet could have burnt down an entire building, and Kaden wouldn’t even begin to start yelling.

As he got closer to the home, he very quickly noticed the absence of Aphelion. This didn’t bode well for the situation in the slightest. Not even bothering to knock, Alister pushed the door open, the first thing he saw was Emileen and Kaden sitting on the stairs, Kaden's head was buried in his arms.

Alister’s heart dropped when the pair looked up at him.

“Where’s Ratchet?”

“He left for the Great Clock.” Kaden rubbed his face, “He told me everything, Al.”

Alister kneeled down in front of Kaden, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I’m so sorry… We should have told you sooner, we were worried that we wouldn’t be believed…”

“I almost don’t believe it… But it makes too much sense…” Kaden rested his head on his hand, wishing he could have done things differently.

Emileen gently rubbed his back, she looked to Alister, “What happened to the lombaxes? Why were you, Ratchet, and Angela the only ones left?”

“Angela was there?” Alister said surprised, he hadn’t actually known that.

“Ratchet mentioned that he had met her.” She shrugged, turning the subject back to her question, “But he didn’t really explain why everyone was gone.”

Alister seemed pained as he thought about his response, but to lie to them now felt cruel. As much as he didn’t like it, he decided to tell them the truth.

“Tachyon happened.” He sighed as he sat down fully, resting his hands in his lap, “As it turns out, you were right about all those warnings, Kaden. I trusted him, I thought that since he was raised by lombaxes, he’d never turn on us. But he tricked me.” His tail thumped on the ground as he thought about his mistakes, “He came to me one day, asking for full, unlimited access for his technology.”

Kaden was sitting up now, watching Alister carefully as he listened to the story. This was almost his reality, and they had come dangerously close to it, only prevented when Tachyon was found “mysteriously” dead.

“In days he launched a full-scale attack on Fastoon, we had no idea it was coming, no idea he had an entire army. We had no hope. Everyone was gathered in the Court of Azimuth. Everyone except you, as everyone made their escape, you went home.” The grief was obvious in his voice, “You wanted to save Emileen. But when we got there she was already…” He looked at her slowly, she covered her mouth and Kaden pulled her close.

Alister shifted, finding nowhere else to look than at them, “I still remember Kaden walking back to me, only holding Ratchet in his arms. The poor kid was crying and Kaden wouldn’t even speak. When we got to the Court, I was prevented from entering and joining everyone’s escape. They exiled me right then and there, and I understood why.”

“Where did they go?” Kaden asked, his mind ached with memories that never existed.

“They used the dimensionator and escaped into a new dimension.” Alister thumped his fingers on his knees, keeping himself calm, “I don’t know exactly what happened after that. I fled to a different sector of Polaris, away from Tachyon’s reach. As he took over, he erased our history, to the point that in just a few years, it was like we barely existed.”

“That’s horrible.” Emileen wrapped her arms around herself, “I can’t believe that happened to us….”

“That’s why I used the Clock. To fix my mistake and give Ratchet and chance to have his family.” He looked up to a picture of Ratchet, when he was just a little kid, winning some robotics competition at school, “He deserved a chance to know you.”

“Well, let’s hope I didn’t just ruin all your hard work…” Kaden’s voice didn’t sound very hopeful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heehee, hoohoo.
> 
> So, uh, they know now! ^^ That's good! No more secrets!


End file.
